Porsche has patented a new engine design that is a six stroke. The engine cycle is intake, compression, combustion, compression, combustion, exhaust, or suck, squeeze, bang, squeeze, bang, blow. The engine design is quite impressive as it has two different top dead centers and two different bottom dead centers. I actually had to watch a video from “Driving 4 Answers” to be able to wrap my head around this design. The cam is inside a planetary gear type set up and as the sun gear spins around it places the piston rod at different distances within the cylinder as it cycles through its running strokes. It also has separate ports at the lowest bottom dead center position like a two stroke to help facilitate air flow for the second squeeze bang cycle. Like I said, it took me a bit to wrap my head around this, but there are some very good videos that help explain what is going on. This is one of those things that might never come to fruition, but the design is everything that Porsche has always been about. Just how far can they push the edge of the envelope. I think that this design might be poking outside a little bit.
There is a company in Granada Spain called INNengine that has developed a “one stroke” engine. It isn’t a true single stroke, but a very clever two stroke. Two opposing pistons come together with the ignition events explosion of gases occurring in the center between them as they come together. One side has an exhaust port and the other has the intake port. Like a two stroke the exhaust port opens first and the vacuum that is generated sucks in the air when the intake port is opened afterwards and pushing out the exhaust gases. Thus, clearing the cylinder for the next combustion cycle. The test engines that they have built generate approximately 120 horsepower and 150-foot pounds of torque from a 500-cc engine that you can pick up quite easily. There have been demonstrations of the engine in both a Miata car and a large drone and it seems impressive, but still, I think it is more of a novelty item even with the demonstrations of working units. It has way fewer actual moving parts than a conventional engine, but durability would be my concern after watching several videos of how the “cam” type mechanism works. That being said, it is still impressive and there are some good videos of how it actually works online. I know I’m being a naysayer here, but sometimes my little lizard brain can’t grasp how wonderful some things are.
Stepping away from the Internal Combustion engine for a moment we must address the electric vehicle industry. Electric cars have been around since the late 1800s, and I am pretty sure that range anxiety has been an issue for manufacturers since day one. Several modern companies have taken the challenge to address range anxiety and the perceived safety of electric vehicles. (Data states that approximately 1.5% of petrol-powered vehicles will catch fire over the life of the vehicle, but only 0.03% of electric vehicles will do the same). In doing so, the Solid-State Battery has come to the forefront of battery technologies. A solid-state battery has both an Anode and Cathode like a regular battery, but the electrolyte between the two is either solid or a semi- solid. The new solid-state batteries are being tested in several different chemical formulae, but most are stating that they can potentially provide a battery that will effectively increase range by a factor of 1.5 to 2 times current batteries and offer a near flameproof battery to boot. This is on top of utilizing much smaller amounts of lithium or eliminating it all together in the process of manufacture. Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis have all partnered with Factorial Energy. Volkswagen partnered with Quantum Scape, and Japanese companies Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are all working on the technology in-house. Chinese automotive company Saic has stated that they will start selling a solid-state battery powered car sometime late next year.
Charging these new solid-state batteries might be a bit of a challenge also due to the increased capacity. Charging station charge times vary depending on your vehicles capacity and the station’s level of output. High current enabled stations can charge some cars in only 30 minutes, but not all cars have the ability to be charged at high current stations and not all stations have the ability to have that current output. Currently, (see what I did there) full charge times range from about 30 minutes to 2.5 hours depending on the vehicle and the charge station. So, if a solid-state battery doubles your range, it would seem to also suggest that it would double your charge time. So, take that into account. I live in the very middle of the US with my family in both Texas and New York. Though I have been known to lounge in a Cracker Barrel for well over an hour, 3 hours might be a stretch. The longer ranges might make up for the wait though. Many of the automotive manufacturers are targeting ranges between 650 and 1000 miles per charge on solid state batteries currently in development. That is an impressive goal. If I could purchase an EV with a single charge range of 700 miles, I would be very interested. Until then my SUV or motorcycle will have to suffice.
